SEARCHBITS XXXV: SURELY THIS IS THE LAST ONE
ranks high on the OMG WHAT DID DENARD DO TODAY scale
can you call him
OMG that's his phone number
wow wow… no, no don't call him I'm too nervous
JEDD FISCH? A name for Michigan's wildcard spot:
College FB news -- I'm hearing ex-Jags OC Jedd Fisch will be offered the Pass Game Coordinator job at University of Michigan. @FOXSports1
— P. Schrager (@PSchrags) January 8, 2015
Fisch was just fired after two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars' OC; before that he was OC at Miami for two years. That followed a vagabond existence as an NFL position coach mostly spent teaching WRs and QBs; his only college experience prior to his Miami run was a couple years as a GA at Florida under Spurrier. [UPDATE: Ace reminds me that Fisch was briefly at Minnesota as OC/QB when the Gophers were rolling with the pretty decent Adam Weber.]
Fisch and Jimmie Dougherty on the same staff would be a little awkward. Dougherty's done QB/WR as well, with a single year as a TE coach at San Diego. Either one of those two rumors is going to fizzle out or Michigan's going to have one of the two as a TE coach and leave the OL entirely to Drevno.
It's difficult to find out anything about Fisch other than that there are an immense number of websites willing to report on the firing of an NFL coordinator. Fisch was the architect of one of the weirdest FEI seasons in memory: Miami's 2011 offense, which finished in the middle of the pack in almost all standard metrics but was third in FEI that year for reasons I can't discern. All of Miami's individual FEI numbers are also mediocre. I don't get it. Miami was 23rd in S&P, the play-based metric, FWIW.
Fisch didn't do much in Jacksonville, but it's hard to see how he could:
Teams with successful rookie Qbs also don’t start 7-8 rookies on offense at the same time.
Successful rookie Qbs tend to have at least something to lean on, run game, great TE, a line, a Vet at WR, a great D.
This year was sausage being made. It is better to have the result than to see the process.
Blake Bortles seemed pissed that Fisch got axed, FWIW.
Getting a guy coming off four years as an OC as basically a position coach seems pretty good, if that is the case. Without a source connected to Michigan reporting it's a possibility, not a probability.
UPDATE: Sam says Fisch is in, also WR coach.
TOLBERT IN. Anvil-lifting, weight-flinging assistant 49ers S&C guy Kevin Tolbert is unofficially official:
Source tells @NFLonFOX @49ers asst strength coach Kevin Tolbert is signed, sealed & delivered as @umichfootball strength coach. GREAT hire!
— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) January 8, 2015
I would hold your horses with the Gittleson worry, people who worry about those kind of things. Michigan went after Stanford's Shannon Turley hard—like seven-figure, three-year contract hard—for a reason and Harbaugh isn't going to just shrug and buy a bunch of Nautilus machines because he missed. Tolbert's been around the block with Stanford and the 49ers.
I will admit that Tolbert is one of a small number guys on staff who haven't established himself as a quality idea outside the Harbaugh orbit. I'm still not too worried about it. Harbaugh is a guy who knows how to hire guys.
zoom
WHEATLEY OFFERED. On WTKA today Sam laid out the current Wheatley situation($): offered the RB job, going back home to talk about it with his family. Currently no extra title like run game coordinator or associate head coach but a solid likelihood that one will be available in a minute here since Harbaugh people go on to do things. (His last staff at Stanford featured five current CFB head coaches and Pep Hamilton, who's probably going to be an NFL head coach in the near future.)
We should hear something soon, and that's very probably going to be yes.
OTHER NAMES. Also from WTKA today: Sam expects another coach in the secondary($) and Roy Manning is interviewing today, presumably for that spot. If Manning doesn't get that job, Marshall DC Chuck Heater is a possibility.
Heater played at Michigan and then embarked on an infinitely long career as a college assistant that has taken him through Wisconsin, OSU, ND, Colorado State, Colorado, Washington, Utah, Florida, Temple, and now Marshall. He's been a DBs coach for the large bulk of that time, added co-DC stuff under Urban Meyer for the last three years of his career there, and has been a DC the past three years. At 62 he'd probably be planning to retire at Michigan if he came, and money would not be a problem—Heater's making "just" 200k as a coordinator, something Michigan could bump a la Dougherty.
OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL. As I mentioned six months ago, DJ Durkin would be come official for the 29th time when Michigan issued an official release on his hire. They did so. Hooray, hooray.
"Reuniting with Jim at the University of Michigan is an opportunity that I could not pass up," said Durkin. "We had some great times working together at Stanford, and I look forward to producing great results at Michigan. I look forward to coaching in the Big Ten after growing up in that footprint. I am excited to return to the Midwest and recruit and teach some of the best and brightest young men in the country."
The most notable item from this blitz of non-news was Durkin saying he'd previously run both 3-4 and a 4-3 defenses and would fit the defense to his personnel. There's a distinction here that gets lost a lot: you can run a 30 front from time to time and still be a 4-3 defense. The much bigger distinction is one gap versus two gap, and a lot of 30 fronts are just 4-3 defenses in which the fourth guy is a blitzer.
FWIW, Durkin's last defense at Florida occasionally appeared to be 3-4 but played like a one-gap attacking 4-3 with a sometimes-standup Crable-esque DE and non-planet NT.
DJ Durkin Florida Defense vs. FSU Every Snap by DGDestroys
If Durkin is serious about installing a 3-4 this is what it would probably end up looking like:
- DE: Glasgow, Wormley, Poggi
- NT: Pipkins, Mone
- DE: Henry, Hurst, Godin
- WOLB: Charlton, Marshall, Ojemudia, Furbush
- SOLB: Ross, Stone, Winovich
- ILB: Morgan, Bolden, McCray, Gedeon
3-4 DEs are often three-tech types from a 4-3 under, and the nose tackles have to be super consistent at taking on doubles. Pipkins's lack of playing time last year would make me leery. Michigan has a clear 4-3 weakness—DE—as well.
I doubt Michigan will flip its defense around extensively. It's likely to remain pretty much a 4-3, give or take some frippery.
GUESSOCHART. Throwing Fisch on there and downgrading Dougherty and Manning some.
OFFENSE | COACH | confidence | DEFENSE | COACH | confidence |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
OC | Tim Drevno | lock | DC | DJ Durkin | lock |
QB | Jim Harbaugh | lock | DL | Greg Mattison | lock |
RB | Tyrone Wheatley | very likely | LB | Durkin | lock |
WR | Jedd Fisch | lock | DB | Greg Jackson | lock |
OL | Drevno | lock | OLB/DE | Roy Manning | probable |
TE | Jimmie Dougherty | probable | ST | John Baxter | lock |
S&C: Kevin Tolbert
OTHERS: Chuck Heater(CB), John Morton (WR).
January 8th, 2015 at 3:03 PM ^
Fisch was also an offensive coordinator for one year (2009, I think) at Minnesota under Terrible Tim Brewster.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^
Fisch messed with his throwing motion, preventing him from running and forced the "less explosion/fewer mistakes" tradeoff that "pro style" coaches seem to love.
Ugh. I trust in Jimmy but I'd rather see a flyer on a D-II guy or a first time coach or something.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
It's likely that Jim himself will handle the QB position to a significant degree (if not entirely). I wouldn't worry too much about our QB coaching.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^
The only person messing with any QB's throwing mechanics will be one Jim Harbaugh.
Any "passing coordinator" guy will be strategy, game planning for WRs and coaching WRs.
Carry on.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:39 PM ^
It looks like he'd coach WRs. The only guy working with QBs should be Harbaugh.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:47 PM ^
Will Brian do away with the Roman numerals like the NFL is doing with super bowl 50 next year?
I hope we get to find out. Love the SEARCHBITS.
January 8th, 2015 at 4:32 PM ^
Stupid NFL. Ruining everyone's fun by not having SUPER BOWLL.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^
strikes me as the oddest.
January 8th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
We are getting a guy who just spent two years as an NFL OC, and two years before that as a college OC (at Miami [YTM]) to be our WR coach and help with our passing game, since our OC's strength is obviously running and the OL.
That is awesome, and adds even more cache to the "Come to Michigan and we'll prepare you for the NFL" pitch. SEVEN (!!!) of our ten coaches (according to guessochart) have NFL coaching experience. The guys that don't are Durkin (a college superstar with a record of coaching guys into the NFL), Baxter (a ST guru who is one of the best at his role in the country), and Dougherty. Heater played in the NFL and Morton played and coached in the NFL seem like our other options, and would only add to the "we can get you to the NFL" credibility.
Also, Harbaugh is fanatical about his staff...if Fisch didn't fit what he wanted, he wouldn't be hired.
January 8th, 2015 at 5:00 PM ^
Virtually all of the other guys have no meaningful scary parts on their resumes, whereas Fisch seems to have been underwhelming at best in Minnesota and Jacksonville.
In Harbaugh We Trust.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^
Will MGo be funding outpatient clinic care for those who have become addicted to searchbits? Or it just on these people to try to go cold turkey out there in this cold, unforgiving world?
January 8th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
Whatever you do...DON'T START METH...it is NOT a valid substitute!
January 9th, 2015 at 9:55 AM ^
First post...long time reader. Love this place. It appears to me that there is no better way to stay relevant than to stay in the news. Stretching the hiring process out until the dead period ends is a great way to stay in front of potential recruits and continue to create buzz about the program.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:14 PM ^
Is that Chuck Heater, who used to be a running back in the early 70's? Wow ... that's a name from the past. I recall Bob Ufer speaking of him, imagining Fritz Crisler longing for Heater in the old single wing ...
January 8th, 2015 at 3:18 PM ^
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January 8th, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^
Was a running back on the 1973 (10-10 tie) team. A very non-flashy but productive runner. The flash would come when the regulars had the game in hand (which was early and often) and young Rob Lytle would come in. Heater has been a long-time assistant and appears to play a similar role: not flashy but productive, competent, and fully the team-the team, the-team. Harbaugh obviously is trying to get a mix of young/old and personality types; I'd bet he looks at Heater if his type of personality is needed for the mix on the coaching staff and will look somewhere else if a different type of personality is needed, be it younger, louder, whatever.
January 8th, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^
The weird thing about Heater is that he's been in coaching nearly 40 years now, but he's never coached here. You'd think at some point he would have been hired as an assistant here.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^
Sam Webb confirmed Fisch as WR coach a few minutes ago.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:18 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:22 PM ^
Delete.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
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January 9th, 2015 at 2:15 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^
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January 8th, 2015 at 3:27 PM ^
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January 8th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
I agree. There were some issues early on by the end of the season, the unit seemed to be performing well. I think Manning stays. His recruiting abilities alone is worth finding a place for him.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^
Gary Nova what he thought of UM's secondary.
January 8th, 2015 at 5:15 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^
How much of that was do to improved DB play vs going up against poor QB's?
CJ Brown of Maryland had a QBR rating of 41.3 for the year, Siemian of NU had 40.7, Diamont (starter for IU in UM game) had 17.0 and Hackenberg had 31.5. For comparison's sake, Gardner's QBR for the year was 42.4. So essentially UM was facing a bunch of QB's who were worse then Garnder during the later part of the year.
Nova's QBR rating for the year was 65.2, Cook was 71.9 and Barrett 81.9.
January 9th, 2015 at 12:21 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 7:06 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^
Brian used to call Manning's main role "Beyonce" because his main job was to recruit. The same players in 2013 that were great really struggled at press man in 2014. Scheme has a lot to do with secondary sucess. If Manning is still in the secondary he'll have a new boss and new coaches who can help him with his position. He can also keep recruiting to the left... to the left.
January 8th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^
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January 8th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^
One positive for searchbits addicts is with how quickly Harbaugh guys get promoted to higher positions, we're probably going to be doing searchbits annually but hopefully for only 1-2 position coach/coordinator each year. So slimsearchbits.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
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January 8th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
The University announced Durkin as JH's first hire. http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010815aaa.html
All week long, we hear about Drevno and Mattison as being locks and making phone calls to recruits.
Why have Drevno and Mattison's hires not been announced yet?
January 8th, 2015 at 5:04 PM ^
The important part is they know what they are doing. The rest is a waste of time.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^
According to Webb, Mike Zordich is in the mix for CB/Secondary coach.
http://www.ysusports.com/sports/fball/coaches/zordich-mike
Fyi...
January 8th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
and with that the 10 year war between Harbaugh and Bo Pelini begins.
/Mr.Burns.gif
January 8th, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^
Fisch looks like he'd coach WRs. It looks like the Guessochart might be how everything turns out.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:32 PM ^
Tyrone Wheatley's first recruit: Tyrone Wheatley
January 8th, 2015 at 3:32 PM ^
I'd be grossed out by Jedd Fisch hire. Do not want.
But Harbaugh says it's okay so
January 8th, 2015 at 3:34 PM ^
it would be torch and pitchfork time. Very odd hire.
January 8th, 2015 at 7:11 PM ^
Because at every single job FIsch has ever had there have been complaints that he's overloading the QBs with too much shit. And Harbaugh's offense is famously QB friendly with simple decisions, with stresses on execution over trying to outsmart everyone.
They're basically polar opposites. I can't figure it out.
January 8th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 3:35 PM ^
Sam Webb also saying Fisch is going to be WR coach.
Also slated to be WR coach RT @PSchrags I'm hearing ex-Jags OC Jedd Fisch will be offered the Pass Game Coordinator job at #Michigan.
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) January 8, 2015
January 8th, 2015 at 3:35 PM ^
Yes I am serious. And don't call me Shirley
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